Adventures in Cooking

One of my New Year's resolutions was to cook more, and so far this month I've made veggie burgers and oven-baked carrot fries, sweet potato black bean "boats" (above), grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato, basil, and mozzarella cheese (below), homemade pesto, and of course our old stand-by of pita pizzas! The results have been mixed (the sweet potato boats were delicious, the pesto not so much...) but I'm proud of myself for trying. I have some vegan jambalaya in the crock-pot for dinner tonight, so hopefully that comes out okay! Hoping to try black bean burgers and mashed chickpea salad sandwiches this week too, fingers crossed that they're tasty!

Black Bean & Tortilla Pie

Confession time: I don't cook very often. Craig's schedule constantly changes, so if we find ourselves together for dinner, we usually go out or make easy dinners we have all the time (pasta, frozen pizzas, and if we're feeling fancy, quinoa salad). But I've been meaning to make something new to us, from scratch. Last night we made black bean tortilla pie from a Martha Stewart cookbook I had. I wasn't sure how it would turn out, but damn if it isn't delicious. Who cares if it isn't as photogenic as Martha's?

Recipe here

I hope the next homemade meal isn't too far off!

Minty Ice Cream Cake

I recently started making ice cream cakes for different occasions. The nice thing about them is they're totally customizable! For a family dinner taking place on St. Patrick's Day, I made this green minty version. The crust is crushed Mint Oreos, the middle is mint chip ice cream blended with Cool Whip, and the top is hot fudge, ground up mint MnMs, and more Mint Oreo cookie pieces. I think it was a hit!

Next time I make an ice cream cake I think I'll make a video, or at least take photos documenting the process! 

On a side note, looking at this ice cream cake is making my oatmeal breakfast look pretty depressing by comparison... *sigh*